


Kingdoms of Creatures: The Sword of Birch

by DelltaTheWriter



Category: None - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-19 00:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22302400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelltaTheWriter/pseuds/DelltaTheWriter
Summary: Based in a fantasy medieval world, with creatures of mythical being and creatures of pure nightmare. From Nobles to peasantry. From cult fanatics to bands of merciless mercenaries. This world is filled with all the wrong types of people. And the origin starts here.





	Kingdoms of Creatures: The Sword of Birch

I will have to say now, my story is not your classic fairytale that mothers would tell their children when they are young dreamers. My upbringing was not what it was supposed to be. 

I lived in a small village, ideal for most. Luscious scenery, fresh air, friendly neighbours, good friends and the little local tavern which was of course was often frequented by the local garrison from Fort Granford. Never a dull moment within my village, I would call it by its name but by the end of that week the name was lost.

My tale started with an early morning sun on my back as I pushed the ox drawn plough through my fathers fields. He had to start early because of how many fields that he had which needed ploughing. I didn't always help him farm as I was 12 at the time so by "pushing" the plough I actually had no affect on it at all, but at the time I felt like I was doing a great deed to help my father along with his tiresome farm chores. The ox attached to the cart did all of the work with my father guiding them up and down the fields of wheat with his hardwood cane and floppy straw hat. 

The main field that we were working on was very close to the birch forest, which had tall trees within but shrubbery and brambles acted as a natural wall to the forest. Near our village was what we called 'the mouth of the forest' which allowed anyone in and out of the forest. I was always told to stay away from the tree line of that forest because of the "bad things" which lived in there. I remember I ventured into the forest once, I knew I wasn't meant to but I did anyway because I wanted to see for myself what sort "bad things" actually lived there. I was armed with long stick stripped of it's bark which acted as my sword, because all knights need a sword. It was past the hour of high moon when I snuck out of our wooden hovel to explore the forest which held my curiosity for so long. I got to the mouth of the forest when the nerves started to take over. As I stood there staring up at the trees, which seemed to scrape the sky, I fell deathly silent with my sword by my side. I started to noticed a thick fog, not like an early morning fog, but a fog that seemed much darker and much thicker. I couldn't see through it. A long vantablack spindly arm with even longer claw-like fingers which stretched out to me from the darkness, that's when my mind started going blank, all I know is that the hand was open to me and somehow drawing me in. Then darkness. 

I woke in my straw bed on the floor of my home. Not a hair on my head was different but I couldn't see my sword anywhere. I led in my bed sobbing for a few hours while I tried to remember exactly what happened. But nothing. My thoughts were lost on my sword, I loved that sword a lot. Even though it was just a stick, to me it was mighty, I felt like I could take anyone on. All the stick was, was a branch that had fallen from one of the taller birch trees bordering the fields which I then stripped the bark off with a rock that had a jagged edge, yet it had sentimental value.

My father always was fond of the idea of me being a knight. He never thought that I could ever be one but he played along to my fantasy, which is one of the reasons why I loved him so much. My mother on the other hand was always so quiet and secluded. She loved me like a mother but I often felt as though that she didn't love me and father all the time because she never laughed and only very rarely would we see her smile. When she wasnt cleaning, cooking or washing clothes then she often just sat in my parents bedroom staring out of the window out in to the farmers fields.

In my youth I was fairly sheltered from what is really in the world, in my village there were only humans. Truth be told the world is filled with bad people of all races and species. But thats not the worst of it. Its also filled with terrible creatures of all shapes and sizes. Many creatures that still arent discovered and many creatures that can choose not to be seen if they so wished. And creatures of pure nightmare. My parents tried protecting me from the outside world, they expected me to work on the farm where I would live a simple life and be protected from the outside world by Fort Granford. They usually patrolled frequently around our village and its borders. But my parents can't control destiny. 

Once I had wiped my face to get rid of the tears I had a moment of clarity. I thought to myself "what would Sir Daven have done?" He was my favourite knight of the Kingdom of Lyontarn. He was so mighty and powerful and respected in the stories, he had long flowing golden hair and bright shiny armour. I was sure that what he would do would be to pack some food and go reclaim what was lost to me like in the famous story of Sir Daven when he reclaimed his love.

I went to our pantry to get some bread, cheese and a pigskin for water. The cheese was kept right at the top of the shelves. I was only a small lad so the top of the shelves looked as though they were the Grand Mountains to the north. I just HAD to have some cheese for my quest so i used a small stool to give me a leg up to the first shelf. It creaked as i placed my left foot on its slightly rotten plank of birch. My mind instantly thought this was a terrible idea, but if i couldnt be brave enough to climb shelves in my pantry then how could i go on my quest to reclaim my sword? So i continued onwards. Lifting my right foot to meet to left on the shelf as it groans even more. There were only two more shelves left to conquer. I felt my legs turning to jelly as i got higher up. I have always been afraid of heights and my climbing the shelves only made it worse. The next shelf seemed to be more rotten than the first. I gingerly placed my foot on it. I felt it bend under my weight. I froze in place, far too afraid to move a muscle. I could see the cheese. It was grabable if i just leant down. I started to lower the top half of my body down towards the cheese. More creaks and moans came from the shelf. It kept bowing down. I knew it was going to break, but my hand had nearly reached the cheese. Crack. Then shelf gave way. Mid fall i tried to grab the shelf to hold on to, but in the panic i knocked off most of the food. I fell seven feet and landed on my back. My mother ran into the pantry after the loud clatter which i caused. She calmly asked me "what the fuck were you trying to do?" I was going to tell her the truth of my adventure but somehow i already knew she would not let me because she always said that i should stay away from the forest. She wouldnt understand how much my sword meant to me. I simply said "I wanted some cheese", i was still led flat on the floor. My head felt dizzy and it almost seemed like i had no idea what just happened. There was broken shelf around me, and food spread everywhere in the pantry. "Youre lucky that the wood flooring has been softened over the years, otherwise you would be in a lot more pain", said mother, "grab some cheese then and clear off so i can clear up this mess", I sensed sadness in her voice, i was going to stay with her for a while longer and help but she also sounded serious. I walked out of the pantry with the cheese and bread for my quest but i felt something was off. I stopped and listened. It sounded like sobbing. I peaked around the corner of the door to the pantry to see my mother sat on the floor with her back to the wall, and she was crying softly. I couldnt help myself and ran back into the pantry to hug her to try and give some comfort. I wrapped my arms around her but she didn't hug back. I felt her wet cheek on my cheek. I had no idea what to say or do accept hug. She grabbed my face and positioned it so we were looking in each others eyes. Hers were red and puffy. She said to me with a shaky voice "make sure you find a girl who loves you and will do anything for you, but also make sure you feel the same for her. Always think of the words you say and what effect it can have. Because one wrong word and ruin the rest of your life. Now go outside and leave me while i clean up", i never knew exactly what she was saying or more importantly, why she was saying it. And why then? I taken one last look at my mother before i left the home.

It was midday when I left. The Sun was high and no cloud to be seen, only small birds filled they sky. But for some reason the birds never flew over the birch forest, as if there was a massive magical shield surrounding the forest. I walked over to the mouth of the forest. But this time there was no fog. I could see deep into the forest. I taken a deep breath, made sure my sack with the food was strapped properly to my back. I passed the border into the forest. It didnt seem as intimidating now, it was actually a beautiful forest with amazing colour. But i noticed a lack of animals. They were surely just sleeping so i ignored the thought and walked on. After around an hour of walking and searching i heard a scream fairly close by. I dropped to the ground immediately. I was looking around my to find the person that the scream belonged to. I saw no one at first. But then out from behind some trees i spotted two large men. They were dressed in a dark green gambeson, brown hooded cloak, leather boots and black breeches. One of the men was holding a rope and attached to the rope was a raggedy looking girl of about 17, she was pulled out from behind a thick trunked tree. The girl was wearing a sort of night cloak. It was hard to tell because it was all muddy and ripped in places. I wanted to help that second but i didnt have any sort of weapon to try and help this girl. I roughly heard one of the men say "lets make camp here for the night", so i made a mental note roughly where the camp was so i could return when I had my sword. I slowly went into a crouch and I manoeuvred further through the forest for something around twenty minutes. I tried going as fast as i could go to find my sword so I could save the girl, like a knight saves a damsel in distress.

This is when I found the clearing. The trees stopped to form a perfect circle around a smallish pond. I slowly approached the pond to have a drink but when I looked down into the shallow pond i saw it. My sword. Just lying there in the water. I had no idea how it managed to wind up in a pond in the middle of the forest. I could hardly believe my eyes. So I immediately bent down to grab my sword. It felt a lot heavier than before I lost it. I examined it in my hands with a huge smile on my face. I wasn't aware of the noises of the forest until I felt an icy chill blow down the back of my shirt. I glanced around me and saw the branches and leaves of the trees frantically waving in the wind. It seemed to kick up in an instant. Dark clouds gathered and swirled above my head. But as I looked up at the clouds I saw massive expanse of spider web, as a child I couldn't believe that this was the work of a house spider and I was very confused as to what it could have been. But I was right, it wasn't the work of a house spider, it was the creation of the great dire spiders.

The origin of these spiders always come from sick or cursed forests. They smell it out and haunt the forest for many generations until the sickness or curse is lifted.

The web filled the gap between the trees of the clearing. The clearing was obviously the main spiders nest. It had large bulbous fleshy white spores on the egg sacks. Each egg was covered in webs and if you taken time to look at them closely you could see each spiderling twitching, the whole egg itself looked as if it was moving and wriggling. I must have spent five minutes staring at this web. I had never ever even dreamed that something like that was possible. But as the minutes went past I started thinking that surely the web that huge would have huge spiders to spin such a web. That's when the fear started creeping in. 

I loved spiders while I growing up but the thought of the humongous tarantula hordes scared me more than I'd like to admit.

I scoured the canopy for any of the spiders. I had my birch wood sword in my clenched fist. I had to be like Sir Daven in that moment. I had to be brave. I saw all the leaves on the trees rustling and flowing in the wind, but no spiders. For a brief moment I was fooled to think there were none at all. But all at once I saw the leaves look as though they are falling. Fast. Lower and lower the leaves fell. Down and down the trunks of the trees I realised that it wasn't leaves at all, they started to take shape. It was the dire spiders. They appeared so fast. lining the edge of the clearing with their monstrous hairy legs and large eyes. Their fangs seemed to protrude from their mouths. My mouth fell open as I looked around me to find only dire spiders in my sight. I could hardly see through the forest behind them. They taken a moment to just stand their ground to stare at me with their many beady eyes. But I stood my ground and firmly held my sword, preparing for attack. The gigantic spiders started to crawl their way towards me, very slowly, it was like they were trying to get in my head and scare me but I was too young to feel scared. I stood with one foot in front of the other, I held my right elbow high and held my sword at the same height, my left hand held the sword from beneath, it was a clumsy stance of a knight ready for attack. I could only try to imitate a knight from what I heard in the stories. I kept looking around me to make sure that the spiders were getting too close, they were only a matter of metres away when I started smacking my stick at the spiders to keep them at distance. It worked for a short while until they understood it was only a stick it wouldn't hurt their steel-like exoskeleton. I'd be lucky if it even scratched them. The dire spiders were far too close. Everywhere I looked was an eight eyed monstrosity towering high over me. One of them used its hairy legs to sweep mine away from under me. I was on my stomach with my faced pressed against the cold mud. 

From under their legs I saw a floating black cloud of smoke with 3 beaming red eyes. The smoke almost seemed like a body, still floating, but by the sides of this smoke person it had long thin arms with longer black claws for fingers. It was the same hand that I saw before I blacked out the first time I went to the forest. The smoke being raised its spindly arm and opened its hand in the direction of me and the spiders, for a moment that's all it did and I felt the spiders fangs stroke my back and I let out a short sharp whimper. That was when the wraith projected a blinding white light from its hand. It pulsed and came towards me in huge waves that went taller then the canopy and wider than the clearing. I led completely still and let the waves of white light wash over me. It merely lasted for a few seconds but it felt like it was longer. When I stopped seeing the light come through the gaps in my fingers I pulled my hands away from my face to then see that the dire spiders have entirely gone and so has their webs, and their ugly egg sacks are gone too. I saw no trace of any spider. Looking straight ahead was the wraith, not even 10 yards away from me. My mouth was incapable of saying anything while I'm sure my eyes said it all, I was staring at the wraith and its body formed from smoke. I was expecting the wraith to look like some snow hag from beyond the mountains but instead it taken the form of a bare woman. Long flowing white hair which went down to her ankles. Her skin was pale and looked almost as if it had a slight white aura to it. Her eyes were big in size and emerald in colour. She had pointy ears, unlike an elf or goblin they were much sharper and curved more outwards. And I couldn't help but notice the lack of clothing on her body. This spirit I was seeing was a complete opposite to the wraith which I saw before that transformation.

She drifted closer to my face and spoke with a sweet and soft tone "You are a brave one indeed. I think they were correct to choose you." I had no clue what she meant, especially as all I did was cower on the floor. I told her this and she replied "Yet you didn't hesitate to find what you had lost. When I taken your stick from you I wasn't aware you would make such haste to reclaim your property." I felt a little insulted and said "That stick is my sword. And you didn't just take my sword but you stole it from me! And I nearly died trying to get it!" I realised when I said it that I just yelled at a being with obvious power. Yet she didn't bat an eyelid and kept completely calm "Yes, I stole your sword, but if I didn't you would still be playing knight in your fathers fields. You cannot start your quest until our encounter has finished. After we speak you will go back to your village and destiny will take care of the rest. It was good to meet you Frederik. Now go home, you are needed." She stretched out her hand and placed it onto my forehead, her eyes started glowing bright white and she looked to the sky. I felt something run through me, like air blowing through a building with an open window. When she pulled her hand away from my face and stared into my eyes. She then started to slowly fade, I didn't take my eyes off of her till the moment she disappeared entirely. I was left stood there in the clearing with my thoughts flowing like the Larian river. 

I picked up my sword off the ground and did as the spirit said, I walked on home. The forest was clear and had a sweet smell to it. But I couldn't stop thinking about everything the spirit said. What was going to happen? What was my destiny? I hated those thoughts.

But thankfully my thoughts were interrupted by the forests smell changing from sweet to smoky. It was thick and clung to my lungs. I was coming close to the border of my village now and the smell was only getting worse. I heard a scream coming from the village. It was piercing. Picking up my pace I tried to get to the source of the scream. Passing the border of the forest I was stopped in my boots. my village was a picture of flame. The houses and granaries were burnt to a crisp and ash acted as a blanket for the earth. I sprinted towards my home in hope that maybe it was okay and not burnt, but what I found was worse, a small group of men in dark green gambesons, brown hooded cloaks, leather boots and black breeches. Most of them were holding torches, the rest had already threw theirs onto my house. The thatch was ablaze and spewing smoke. The wooden supports were catching fire when a large man walked out of the front door with his fist clenched in the hair of a woman. My mother. He swung her round by her hair and launched her onto the ashy floor. I made sure to stop next to a burnt out shell of one of our neighbouring houses and crouched down next to it, far enough to watch but not too close to get spotted. She was quick to get back to her feet. All of the men started to form a circle around her with their swords drawn. Slowly she started to kneel to the ground as the men got closer and closer to her. The largest man raised his claymore high above his head. I felt tears well up in my eyes, as if I knew what was going to happen. But I was wrong. In an instant my mother pulled a dagger from the inside of her boot and sliced at the calf of the large man. He howled in pain and without missing a beat, she jumped up and twirled around slicing two of the men's throats at once, they were dead before they even had chance to react. Their lifeless bodies slumped to the ground with a fountain of blood firing from their open necks. The other three men tried stabbing at mother but she plunged her dagger into one mans heart and kicked his chest, pushing him backwards to smash into the second man. First and second on the floor. The third swiped for her legs but she stepped on the blade and crunched her left knee into the mans nose sending him sprawling backwards with a spray of blood from his nose. First and second got to their knees but their throats were slit immediately and the dagger thrown into the chest of the third. All five men laid dead while the larger man had pulled himself onto the horse and galloped away. Instantly to my right I heard the creak of wood as a bow was drawn and released firing and arrow directly to the back of mothers head. I blinked and my father stepped in and deflected the arrow with a polished sword. I didn't ever see him arrive there. Father pointed over to the horses that previously belonged to the dead men. Running and leaping onto the backs of the horses they were off. Galloping away across the burning fields. The man who fired the arrow stood up out of the bushes he was crouched in, I dared not move as he was but only ten metres to my right. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and pointed it in my direction. "Grab him!", He said without even giving a glance towards me and from behind me a man grabbed me and threw me in front of the archer who gave the order. "Markus will have need of this one." He said. I looked up to him and the last thing I saw was his grimace before a hilt of a sword cracked against the side of my head.


End file.
